Los Angeles: Rapper Kanye West and soul star Adele will be the ones to watch at the 54th annual Grammy Awards after they landed seven and six nominations respectively.
West leads the way with seven nominations with the star-studded collaboration ‘All of the Lights’, which is up for Song of the Year and Best Rap Song, while he also earns a nod in the latter category for his Jay Z duet ‘Otis’.
The hip-hop Jay Z’s ‘Watch The Throne’ album will also go head-to-head with West’s solo disc, ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ for Best Rap Album.
Adele is in the running for six honours and her critically-acclaimed project ’21’ will fight for the prestigious titles of Record of the Year and Album of the Year, while ‘Rolling in the Deep’ will compete for Song of the Year.
Rockers Foo Fighters and R&B singer Bruno Mars are also six-time nominees, while Lil Wayne, dubstep DJ Skrillex and Lady Gaga earned multiple mentions too.
Adele’s ’21’ will compete with the Foo Fighters’ ‘Wasting Light,’ Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way,’ Mars’ ‘Doo-Wops & Hooligans’ and Rihanna’s ‘Loud’ for album of the year.
Best new artist nominees along with Bon Iver are country trio the Band Perry, rappers J Cole and Nicki Minaj and Los Angeles-based DJ-dance music performer Skrillex.
British neo-soul and jazz singer Amy Winehouse, who died of an alcohol poisoning in July, collected a posthumous nomination for her duet with Tony Bennett on ‘Body and Soul,’ which is up for pop duo or group performance.
Taylor Swift, whose third album ‘Speak Now’ has sold almost 3.8 million copies, is vying for country album honors, and her anti-bullying single ‘Mean’ is nominated for country song and solo performance.
The 54th annual Grammy Awards will take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 12. (PTI)
